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Savannah embraces Rock 'n' Roll

Roney Clark was one of about six Carver Heights residents who stood out at the six-mile mark at Stiles and Gwinnett streets and cheered the runners on.

Mary Landers/Savannah Morning News

Cicely Williams of Houston didn’t enter the races, but she covered almost as much ground on foot trying to catch glimpses of her fiance Alberto Striolo, who did.

Jenel Few/Savannah Morning NewsRock 'n' Roll Marathon runners Korry McBurney and Amy Childers ran off the course at the 6th mile marker in Carver Village and stopped at a corner store for chips and power drinks.

Pennica Mumford

Jenel Few/Savannah Morning NewsRunners were appreciative of the show of support from spectators. Many waved, shouted "Thank you. We love you, Savannah and Thanks for coming out" as they ran by and exchanged high fives with people.

Corey Dickstein/Bryan County Now

Six-year-old Chance Cribbs gets a high five from a runner dressed as Elvis near the 19th mile of the Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon in Savannah on Saturday morning.

Corey Dickstein/Bryan County Now Six-year-old Chance Cribbs gets high fives from runners as the pass him near the 19th mile of the Rock 'n' Roll Marathon in Savannah Saturday morning.

Mary Landers/Savannah Morning NewsNancy Shippee's marathon dream was shattered by a pine cone. The Tybee Islander trained with Team DetermiNation and the Fleet Feet Crew so she could run in honor of her mom, who died of cancer six years ago.

Richard Burkhart/Savannah Morning News

A runner grabs bananas after crossing the finish line for Saturday’s Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon.

Jamie Belcher holds out packets of energy gel for a runner Saturday morning on Skidaway Road.

Corey Dickstein/Bryan County Now David Denison of the Savannah-based band The Looters sings as runners pass the stage near the 19th mile marker of Savannah's first Rock 'n' Roll Marathon Saturday morning.

Corey Dickstein/Bryan County Now

Conor O’Keefe, 9, catches a football that his father, Kevin O’Keefe tossed to him as they awaited the first runners to arrive near the mile 19 of the Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon.

Lesley Conn/Savannah Morning News

More than 100 student volunteers from Savannah State University showed up along LaRoche Avenue at 4:30 a.m. to begin setting up a Cytomax performance drink station.

Mary Landers/Savannah Morning News

Having just run her first-ever marathon in Chicago last month, Jeanne Lambin was inspired to head out to Daffin Park and cheer for other runners.

Tough challenge, true heart

One of the last competitors to pass the one-mile point was 41-year-old Steve Martin, a wounded veteran of Afghanistan.

“This is the sixth race I’ve done this year,” said Martin, a Phoenix resident who was running on prosthetic limbs that extended from his knees.

He’d lost both legs from the knees down in November of 2009, a year or so after he’d been wounded, said Martin.

Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon runners Korry McBurney and Amy Childers ran off the course at the 6th mile marker in Carver Village and stopped at a corner store for chips and power drinks.

“We’ve been hungry for two miles,” McBurney said.

See you next year

Westside resident Pennica Mumford realized her neighborhood would blocked off by the marathon until 11 a.m. Saturday, so she got up early and went out to cheer on the runners. Every woman got a “You go girl.”

To every elderly runner, she shouted, “All right grandpa! That’s what I’m talking about.”

When the top athletes and sports enthusiasts had all sped past and the runners passing by looked a little bit older and overweight, she really perked up.

“All right! We’re in my category now!” she shouted. “I’m going to start my walking group, and I’ll be out there with you next year.”

Hitting the wall, then breaking through

Salt packets were in demand by runners at the mile 22 health tent on Truman Parkway, where former and current employees from St. Joseph’s/Candler Hospital stood by to assist at the Delesseps Avenue exit ramp.

Retired nurse Sheri Estes and her crew set up their medical cart and canopy about 8 a.m. — about an hour and a half before the first runner passed by.

Three hours later, first-time marathoner Anthony Warlick said he was done and parked himself in a chair to wait for the transport van. After six months of training, and some half-marathons under his belt, Warlick said he just “hit the wall” at about mile 18 and had to start walking.

It was a tough break for the Tennessee native — made even more so when he had to warm up by donning a volunteer’s sweatshirt displaying the name of his home state’s rival, University of Alabama’s Crimson Tide.

Maybe it was too much to bear. About 45 minutes later, Warlick took off running again, intent on finishing what he started.

Neighborhoods turn out

Runners raved about the neighborhood support along the course. Downtown residents stood three or four deep along Liberty Street downtown. Hundreds of Savannah State students joined the Tiger marching band as the runners swept by the eastside campus.

Gordonston residents spent Friday afternoon and the early morning hours Saturday manicuring the grass medians through their neighborhoods, going so far as to plant bright-colored mums.

“I’m very proud today to say I’m from Savannah,” Assistant City Manager Marty Johnston said. “Everyone has been amazing.”

West Savannah spirit

Roney Clark was one of about six Carver Heights residents who stood out at the six-mile mark at Stiles and Gwinnett streets and cheered the runners on. From the very first runner who came zipping past to the very last straggler to come walking by, they shouted, “Welcome to Carver Heights! We love you in west Savannah! You can do it! and Yes you can! Yes you can!”

“I want to represent Carver Heights,” Clark said. “They’re running through our neighborhood, and I wanted to support it and enjoy the festivities”

In their father’s honor

The Mills brothers, Rufus Jr. and Napoleon, traveled to Savannah to run in remembrance of their father, Rufus Sr.

Rufus the elder retired to Savannah after his military career and died earlier this year.

“It’s appropriate that we run a race together here,” said Napoleon Mills, who lives in Colorado. “Dad loved it here.”

The Savannah Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon was Napoleon’s 11th career marathon. His brother, a New Yorker running in his second race, split with his brother at the halfway mark, finishing the half-marathon.

The day was even more special to Napoleon – Nov. 5 is his birthday.

Shift into marathon mode

Megan Dorsey worked her 12-hour nursing shift at Memorial University Medical Center, got off at 7 a.m., grabbed breakfast at McDonald’s and headed to mile three. Her husband Joe was running his first marathon and she wasn’t going to let a little thing like sleep make her miss it.

She caught him at mile 3, then again at 7, 14 and almost 15, by which time her hand hurt from constantly ringing the cow bell she carried. Not that she was complaining.

“It’s cool,” Chance said of the race. “They just keep coming. It’s good.”

Then Chance eyed an especially interesting participant — Elvis.

The runner, dressed in a white jumpsuit and carrying a microphone, stuck his hand out and slapped Chance five.

“There are some interesting runners,” Chance’s father Wayne Cribbs said. “And there are so many of them; they just keep coming.”

Watching the runners — many keeping a strong pace after 19 miles — might motivate the elder Cribbs to start running again.

“I used to run these kinds of events,” he said. “I never did a full marathon, but I did a lot of halfs (marathons).

“You see this and you just really want to get back into it.”

Waiting for Dad

As they awaited the first runners, cousins Bowen Geisberecht, 7, and Conor O’Keefe, 9, wrestled over a football in the grass near the intersection of Skidaway Road and Countryside Drive.

Bowen, there to watch his dad in the race, grabbed the football and bounded down the street.

“The kids are pretty excited to be here,” said Kevin O’Keefe, Connor’s father and Bowen’s uncle. “I think Bowen is feeling pretty good about seeing his dad in the race — he even brought a sign.”

As word began to spread that the first runner would be coming through soon, Bowen prepared.

“He’s going to distract the field so that his dad can get up into first place,” Connor said of his cousin.

Skidaway jitters

An hour before the first runners were predicted to come by, Mary Brown and Luvertta Loyd sat in lawn chairs at the corner of Skidaway Road and Countryside Drive across from stage 18. As the bands — the City of Savannah and The Looters — began their soundchecks, Brown danced in her lawn chair.

“I’m too excited,” Brown said. “I’m going to sit here all day until the last runner passes by.”

Loyd said Brown woke her up way too early.

“She heard the people starting to set up the stage and thought she wanted to get a good spot,” she said.

Magnolia Park out early

Temperatures barely out of the 40s and brisk winds didn’t stop the residents of Magnolia Park from coming out early to greet the runners. By 8 a.m., neighbors were starting to cluster along the route, coffee mugs in hand.

Shana and Robert Pace bundled up 2-year-old Sullivan and brought him out to the corner of Morgan and Back Park Drive to wait for the first runner. Sullivan wasn’t impressed until he caught sight of the flashing blue lights escorting frontrunner Nathan O’Connell of Kennesaw, who passed by at 9:23 a.m.

Energy to spare

At the corner of Bonna Bella Road and Morgan, the Gator cheerleaders from Garrison Elementary, festively decked out with tutus over their uniforms, kept the runners pumped with a constant stream of cheers and shouts of encouragement.

One runner coming around their corner said, “Man, I’d like to bottle some of that energy about now.”

The cheerleaders were also sporting signs of encouragement for their coach, Beth Tuck, who was running the half-marathon.

‘Get your Gu!’

After 45 minutes with her arm straight out, Jamie Belcher was getting tired.

“My arm’s starting to hurt,” she said. “Of course, I’m not nearly as tired as they are.”

“They” are the marathoners who by 9:45 a.m were passing Belcher at her power stand in droves on Skidaway Road.

Belcher and about a dozen other volunteers handed out packets of power gel (called Gu) to any runners who wanted it.

“We volunteered awhile back,” Belcher said. “I got up this morning and I thought, “What in the world was I thinking? Am I insane?’”

As another group of runners passed by, she stuck her arm back out to offer the nutrition to runners.

“You’re doing great. You’re doing great,” she yelled. “Get your Gu!”

Last-place support

The last runner, a walker by that point, rounded the corner of Daffin Park about noon. A sag wagon followed closely behind.

“You go,” lead singer Kim Reteguiz shouted from the nearby stage. “You’re at the 15-mile mark. I’m so proud of you.”

Baby on board

There were no large crowds of people lining the marathon route in the inner-city areas of the westside Saturday morning.

Many people in the Carver Heights area came out to park their cars in the old car wash lot at the corner of Gwinnett Street and Stiles Avenue and carpool so they wouldn’t be blocked in when streets were closed off.

Some ventured out on porches or walked through the neighborhood to see what was going on. But for the most part it was business as usual for them.

Monisha Coleman was among those out walking. But it wasn’t a pleasure walk.

“Normally I take the bus but I have to walk to an alternate route because the streets are closed,” she said, grabbing her distended belly. “I have to get all the way to MLK and Anderson and I’m eight months pregnant.”

Winged feet

As Anne and Sigmund Hudson waited for the lead runner to come by Daffin Park they reminisced about Sigmund’s short running career. The Baldwin Park residents, both retired from Armstrong and Savannah State University, mostly walk or play tennis these days, but Sigmund once ran a 10K race in Shelburne, Mass., he said.

“I came in next to last,” Sigmund said.

At least he beat somebody, right? Maybe not.

“The guy who came in last had on wing tips,” Anne said.

Giving her the runaround

Cicely Williams of Houston didn’t enter Saturday’s races, but she covered almost as much ground on foot trying to catch glimpses of her fiance Alberto Striolo, a full marathoner. She cheered him on at mile 3, hoofed it over to 7.5, then walked and ran to Daffin Park for mile 14.5 — all while carrying two backpacks.

At Daffin, she anxiously scanned the runners, looking for Striolo’s bright blue shirt, but never did see him at the park. She waited about 10 minutes, then decided he must have gotten there before her.

So she was off to mile 23. The couple got engaged at last year’s Portland Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon.

“I have to train to keep up with him,” she said.

Call that a workout?

For Theresa Penney, Saturday’s race was about half a workout. The Columbia, S.C., resident ran a 50-mile ultra marathon three weeks ago in Pine Mountain. She finished in 11 hours.

“It was difficult,” said Penney, who’s apparently big on understatement. On Saturday she was a spectator, cheering on a dozen friends, including her husband Adam, all from the Columbia area.

“I just like walking in the crowd,” she said. “It’s awesome.”

Summer marathons?

More than 100 student volunteers from Savannah State University showed up along LaRoche Avenue at 4:30 a.m. to begin setting up a Cytomax performance drink station for the marathon runners. Even by 7:30 a.m., the temperature stayed stubbornly below 50 degrees.

Katrina Riley, Nick Allen, Sharamie Ware and Timaiya Timothy laughed and joked as they prepared tubs of the sport drink, but after a particularly strong, chilly breeze whipped over them, Timothy expressed some second thoughts.

“It’s too cold,” she said while shivering. “Don’t they have some summer marathons? I can’t feel my toes!”

Cheer marathon

You didn’t have to run the marathon to be tired out from it. Yvonne Knight got up at 5 a.m. with her daughter Jalea, a dancer at Savannah Arts Academy. Jalea and about a dozen other dancers cheered and sang and danced the runners on from their spot in Daffin Park. Knight herself spent a good three hours yelling encouragement as the runners went by.

“When I leave here I’m going straight to bed,” she said.

Go, whoever you are!

Having just run her first-ever marathon in Chicago last month, Jeanne Lambin was inspired to head out to Daffin Park and cheer for other runners. She also drew specific inspiration from a sign that amused her when she ran by it in Chicago. So the orange poster Lambin held Saturday read “Go, complete stranger, Go.”

Stopping to smooch

FBI Agent Adam Rogalski, who lives in Savannah, seemed to mistake the marathon for St. Patrick’s Day. He walked out of the stream of runners shortly after the midpoint of the race to plant a kiss on Tennaile Timbrook, who stood on the pavement at the Daffin Park circle. Timbrook, an attorney with the Judge Advocate General’s Corps of the U.S. Army, wasn’t expecting the smooch during her fiance’s fourth marathon.

“He’s given me a kiss before but usually at the end (of a race),” she said. “Maybe he’ll give me another one there.”

Pining for her chance

Nancy Shippee’s marathon dream was shattered by a pine cone. The Tybee Islander trained with Team DetermiNation and the Fleet Feet Crew so she could run in honor of her mom, who died of cancer six years ago. But she landed the wrong way on a pine cone during a training run in week 20, just three weeks ago, and fractured her foot. She still showed up on the sidelines Saturday, cast and all.

“I’m here in spirit and I’m cheering everybody on,” she said.

Band re-formed

Only half of the band originally scheduled to play at Bee Road and Washington Avenue was on hand Saturday. The band, Rocco Blu, actually broke up last week, said lead singer Kim Reteguiz.

“I feel like I broke up with three men,” she said.

Not wanting to miss out on the Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon, the Jacksonville-based singer brought her old drummer, Cody Walker, Jr. and two new bandmates to Savannah. Here they happily jammed the whole morning with Savannah-based Big Money, playing blues rock and country all morning.

“I can relate to marathon runners,” Reteguiz said. “They’re running; I’m dancing three hours on stage. We’re trying to keep it high energy.”

That would be cheating

Running past Wicklow Stables on Kerry Road near Daffin Park at about the halfway point in the marathon, one slow runner was inspired.

“Can I borrow a horse?” he yelled out.

Those funny shoes

Phyllis Stemen has an eye and ear for detail.

As runners began streaming past her at the intersection of 52nd Street and Oakland Drive, several things caught her attention. She was immediately intrigued by the glove-like shoes a few runners wore, which she’d never seen.

Nor had Stemen seen the chips, strung on shoelaces, that contained microchips to log each runner’s time.

Some runners, she noticed, swung their hands easily; others clenched their fists.

“Some of them slap their feet so hard on the pavement, and others glide by. You can’t hear a sound from them,” she said.

Student spirit

At a water station just before the Skidaway Road and LaRoche Avenue intersection, Keyundrea Meadows, a sophomore at Savannah State University, offered a big smile, a glass of water and a steady stream of “Good job! Keep it up!” to the runners who passed.

“The runners are inspirations, the fact that they run so far,” she said. “They deserve someone to cheer them on.”

Just across the intersection, four members of Savannah State’s track team whooped, cheered, danced and threw thumbs up to every runner, regardless of age, form or speed.

Roland Assinzo, Darrius Baker, Chaz Price and Quentre Shannon had other members of sports teams for company, but most slipped away as the hours passed. These four stayed to the last runner, and their enthusiasm never flagged.

“People need motivation to keep going,” said Price, who often cheered the loudest and longest.

Assinzo, the distance runner of the group, hasn’t done a marathon, but he understands what it’s like to run about 10 kilometers at a time.

“When it comes to long-distance running, people need encouragement to keep going,” he said.

A cheer for the weary

Some of the most appreciated fans were the ones who were alone. That was certainly true of Raevon Brown, who stood for hours on Kerry Road, what she described as “a lonely stretch,” just south of Victory Drive near Daffin Park.

“Welcome to the neighborhood,” she said politely to each runner. The slower ones, some walking just ahead of the sag wagon by this point, were especially responsive.

“That you for being here,” said one woman. “You have no idea what it means to us.”

Thousands of runners, one song request

At race start time, 7:30 a.m., the chilled members of the Spike Ivory Band launched into their first song, “Small Town Girl.”

Their band stand was at the intersection of West Bay Street and East Lathrop Avenue, a couple of hundred yards past the one-mile marker.

They banged out hit after hit, and the 23,000 or so runners were appreciative of their efforts. They whistled and cheered, took pictures and videos of the performers, and, in one case, a runner dressed as Elvis and carrying a guitar pretended to play along with them.

It took this sea of running-shoe-clad humanity just over an hour to pass by the band stand, and during that time only a single request was heard: “Play ‘Free Bird’” somebody yelled.

Aching to cheer

Carver Village resident Ronnie Jones heard the commotion early Saturday and went out to cheer the Rock ‘n’ Roll marathoners on as they made their way down Gwinnett Street.

“I wanted to cheer them on and say God bless you. I have a few aches and pains and a little back spasm. Otherwise I’d be out there running with them,” he said.

Where’s Waldo?

Runners in costume drew a big response from the corner cheer crew at Gwinnett and Stiles. Several wore Where’s Waldo costumes.

“Look at you in your striped shirt and little hat,” they said.

When a female in the same get-up ran by later, they yelled, “Oh look! That must be his girlfriend.”

Store’s staffers turn runners

Half-Moon Outfitters on Broughton Street did a brisk business in runner’s apparel on Thursday and Friday but had some staffing trouble Saturday.

Five of the store’s employees ran in Saturday’s race. They stood out in their bright blue “Half-Moon Marathoners” T-shirts and their specially grown moustaches.

The Half-Moon crew included two women. Jolly and the boys let them slide on the moustaches.

Marathon’s rep surprises local

Local resident Sandy McCloud didn’t realize how big a deal the Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon was until she boarded a flight home from New York City on Thursday afternoon.

“Everybody was talking about the race,” McCloud said. “I made a connection in Charlotte, and most everybody on the plane was a runner coming in for the race.”

McCloud entertained many of her flightmates Saturday. A member of a local oldies trio, Girlfriends, McCloud, Jaime Kelso and Susan Ambrose sang at a stage at mile nine starting at around 8:10 a.m. The Girlfriends were a crowd-pleaser, particularly when they broke out into The Weather Girls’ 1982 hit “It’s Raining Men.”

The Girlfriends also performed Saturday night on the River Street stage.

Starting up, breaking down

David Benjes, the start-line manager for the Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon, and his two-man crew needed most of Friday to set up the erector set-like starting gate and corrals that stretched along Bay Street from Whitaker Street east to East Broad Street.

Yet they needed a little more than an hour to break it all down. Bay Street reopened to traffic before the half-marathon winner crossed the finish line.

“It comes apart a lot easier than it goes together,” Benjes said.

Plus, Benjes and his helpers go through the drill close to 20 times a year. He’ll be in San Antonio next week for the Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon there.

“And you know what, it never gets old,” Benjes said. “I still get caught up in the excitement of the start.”

Thanks, Savannah

Runners were appreciative of the show of support from spectators. Many waved, shouted “Thank you. We love you, Savannah and Thanks for coming out” as they ran by and exchanged high fives with people.

Truman shuts down

Shortly before 6:30 a.m. Saturday, there was virtually no traffic on the Truman Parkway, but that doesn’t mean there wasn’t much going on.

The East DeRenne Avenue ramps were packed with police officers and firemen putting up barricades, and flashing blue lights and long lines of traffic marked similar efforts at other intersections.

The most incongruous sight, however, was the construction of the mile-marker band stands.

One last stop before the start

Mann Raja, the clerk at the Time Saver convenience store at the intersection of Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and West Bay Street, said he wasn’t really busier than usual in the time leading up to the 7:30 a.m. start of the Rock ‘n’ Roll Savannah Marathon.

Still, there was a lot of foot traffic at the store, which is located just a couple of blocks from the race’s start.

“A lot of people are just coming in to use the restrooms,” smiled Raja, “and some of them are buying coffee.”

Steady hand at the start

As the predawn wind whipped along West Bay Street Saturday morning, John Rowland sat hunched to the side of a sign marking the one-mile point in the Rock ‘n’ Roll Savannah Marathon.

“I got here at about 6:30 a.m.,” said Rowland, a ham-radio enthusiast who is also known by his call sign, WB4UGG.

By shortly after 7 a.m., Rowland had pretty much given up on keeping warm at his post on the Bay Street Viaduct, but he was intent on being ready for the signal to start the race clock.

“They’ll all start at precisely the same time,” he said.

Where’s the band?

After planning to turn the marathon into a neighborhood celebration, residents of the Bonna Bella area were disappointed that the band scheduled to perform at the baseball fields on the south side of the street was inexplicably moved to the Bacon Park tennis courts.

“We’ll have a band of our own at the community center next year,” one neighborhood organizer said.

Motivation from the band

As runners turned the corner from Countryside Drive to Skidaway Road, band members of The Looters offered them motivation from the stage.

The Savannah-based band broke into a tune that included lyrics for the marathoners.

“You’ve made it this far,” Layden sang. “You’ve just got seven miles to go.”

Without slowing down, one runner responded to the band as he turned the corner.

“Oh, that’s all? Just seven more?”

Layden continued singing: “When you get to the finish line, baby, you can pass out on the floor.”

Family affair

Amy Robertson was waiting along Bonna Bella with her son, Thomas, 4, and daughter Daisy, 3, hoping to catch a glimpse of Thomas and Daisy’s big sisters, Kathleen and Margaret, as they passed between miles 20 and 21.

Kathleen, 20, is a “TriDawg,” running on the University of Georgia’s triathalon team. Margaret, a 17-year-old student at St. Vincent’s Academy, was missing her school’s state cross-country meet to run the marathon.

Early morning rock and roll

Band members from Savannah’s own General Oglethorpe & the Panhandlers, along with hard rockers Lorenzo were setting up on the parkway near mile 23 by 8:30 a.m. — much earlier than they typically take the stage.

“It’s a little early for rock and roll time,” said Lorenzo bassist Robert Dirr. “Sometimes we’re just getting to sleep around now.”

General Oglethorpe took the stage first, in time to greet the first-place runner about 9:30 a.m., who was leading by about five minutes. Guitarist Devin Smith said they revved up the tempo of their songs a bit to help get the heart rates up as the number of runners steadily increased. The encouragement appeared to be welcomed, Smith said.

“They were running so they can’t say anything, so they just threw rock fists up,” he said.

Cheerleaders eye the prize

Dressed in fluorescent colored outfits and setting up with hair-metal band Europe’s “The Final Countdown” blaring from a stereo, Memorial Day School’s high school cheerleading squad lived up to the 1980s theme they devised for the marathon.

The 9th-12th graders were ready to cheer on runners along the parkway by 8:30 a.m., despite only getting about four hours of sleep after a game in Warrenton the night before.

Aside from motivating the runners toward the finish line, the Lady Matadors were also there to win. The marathon’s $1,000 prize for best cheerleading was in their sights as a way to cover the costs of the state competition in Milledgeville this month, said parent and PTA member Pamela Griggs.

“They’re exited,” Griggs said. “They got in at 2 a.m. this morning and got right back up.”

A ‘river’ crossing

Runners had time to reflect on their life — like deciding to run 26 miles — during a quiet quarter-mile stretch along Truman from the DeRenne Avenue overpass to the next band stage, where spectators were sparse.

Many of those who did make it said they had a challenging time figuring out how to do so.

Columbus-resident Kurt Wasilewski found himself climbing a fence and navigating the shin-high, algae-layered water of an adjacent drainage canal to get to the 23-mile mark along the parkway.

“There was no body of water indicated on the map,” Wasilewski said. “I would have made some alternative decisions.”

A runner himself, Wasilewski did not participate in the marathon, but ran from mile points three, eight and 14 to watch his girlfriend, before joining her on the Truman for the last leg.